1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an integrated document generating method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, with an image processing apparatus such as an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), an image stored in a storage device of the apparatus has been image data in a bitmap format. As image data stored in the storage device increases, searching for a desired file from menu information such as file names or thumbnails becomes difficult.
If a user inputs a keyword included in the desired file from a user interface, and if only files matching such keyword in a search are displayed as a menu, convenience for the user increases significantly, but the image data within the MFP storage device has no keyword to be used for such a search.
On the other hand, technology for vectorizing a bitmap image input with an image input device has been developed (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-23942). Data thus obtained as a result of vectorizing a bitmap image is called vector data.
However, since the vector data generated by vectorizing is data for performing drawing, this data does not necessarily include keywords which the user wishes to search such as text string information or image information within a document. Therefore, secondary information which can be obtained from the bitmap image data is generated as appended information which is not subjected to print processing, and is appended to vector data. Such secondary information is called metadata. The generated metadata is appended to a collection of normal jobs, pages, and picture objects (e.g. a collection summarized in drawing units of Text/Graphics/Images and so forth). Image data can be searched using such metadata.
However, in the case of generating metadata from vector data, if all of the secondary information obtained from the vector data is registered as metadata, the data amount of metadata becomes enormous. The data size of the document made up of metadata and vector data becomes too large, and thus, searching a document or transferring a document between multiple MFPs takes too much time.